1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control method for a four-wheel drive vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case of turning a corner having a small turning radius in a four-wheel drive mode of a four-wheel drive vehicle in a low to medium vehicle speed range, a difference in rotational speed due to a difference in turning radius is generated between the front and rear wheels of the vehicle, causing a tight corner braking phenomenon. As the prior art for eliminating such a tight corner braking phenomenon, front and rear wheels driving devices are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 7-61779 and 7-64219.
The front and rear wheels driving devices disclosed in these publications have such a structure that a speed increasing device is provided between main drive wheels and auxiliary drive wheels to thereby adjust an average rotational speed of the auxiliary drive wheels to an average rotational speed of the main drive wheels. This speed increasing device includes a lockup clutch and a speed increasing clutch, which are selectively switched between ON and OFF states to thereby obtain a lockup condition or same speed condition where the average rotational speed of the main drive wheels and the average rotational speed of the auxiliary drive wheels are substantially equal to each other or an increasing speed condition where the average rotational speed of the auxiliary drive wheels is greater than the average rotational speed of the main drive wheels.
Particularly in the front and rear wheels driving device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-61779, a torque distribution ratio between right and left rear wheels are controlled according to a vehicle speed and a steering angle so that the rear wheel torque is larger than the front wheel torque and the turning outer wheel torque is larger than the turning inner wheel torque. In this front and rear wheels driving device, the auxiliary drive wheels are increased in rotational speed by the speed increasing device in turning a corner having a small turning radius in the four-wheel drive mode, thereby preventing the tight corner braking phenomenon.
In the prior art described in the above publications, the lockup clutch and the speed increasing clutch of the speed increasing device are selectively switched between ON and OFF states to thereby obtain the lockup condition (same speed condition) or the increasing speed condition. However, measures against shock occurring in switching between the lockup condition and the increasing speed condition are not sufficient.